Canes clinch title in five-set slugfest

FLOURTOWN -- When the Villa Maria Academy volleyball team met Mount Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday for the second time in eight days, the stakes were high.

Villa Maria arrived for the match at the Magic’s gymnasium with a one-game lead over the Mount in the AACA this season -- with one match remaining after Tuesday.

A win by the visiting Hurricanes would clinch the regular-season title for Villa. A win by the host squad would put the teams even heading into the final round -- with the ’Canes playing Merion Mercy Academy, the only team to defeat them in the league this season.

Tuesday’s match was the “Brawl for It All” -- and it was a brawl. Both teams played with intensity. Neither gave an inch. When it was over, Villa Maria returned home to Chester County with a hard-fought 3-2 victory.

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The Hurricanes opened with a 25-22 win in the first set and the Mount answered with a 27-25 victory in the second set. The Magic then moved into the driver’s seat with a 25-21 win in game three. Villa fought back to take the fourth game, 25-23, and then clinched the match with a nail-biting 15-13 win in the rubber match.

“I don’t think we were nervous in the games we lost,” said Villa’s standout senior hitter Lily Spinler. “We just didn’t have as much intensity as we needed at times. I don’t know why. We were on-and-off today.”

In the first set Tuesday, the Magic fell behind by six (21-15) and roared back to close it to three (22-19). After Villa approached match point at 24-19, the Mount closed to within two (24-22) but the ’Canes held on for the win with a big kill by Emily Dearing.

In the second set, Villa’s biggest lead was three (4-1) and the Mount’s biggest lead was three (20-17). The game was tied 12 times. Finally, MSJ went ahead 26-25 when Moira Mulholland and Madeline Good combined for a block and then won the final point on a double-hit call against Villa.

The momentum moved into Mount Saint Joe’s camp for the third set. The Magic used a display of strength at the net to move out to an 8-3 lead. Villa Maria’s scrappy team narrowed the margin to one at 15-14 and 16-15. Propelled by a pair of kills by Mulholland and a block by Good, the hosts went ahead by six (22-16). The Hurricanes brought it back to 24-21 on a kill by Kaleigh Oates but that was all.

The scoring through most of the fourth set was tight -- until Villa edged out to a 23-17 advantage. But, no big-margin win was on the menu. The Mount charged back and trailed 24-23 -- but that was as close as it got.

The fifth match initially appeared as if it were going to be devoid of the drama that was featured in the previous four games when Villa Maria bolted out to an 8-1. The Hurricanes went up 3-0 on Katherine Miller’s opening serve and got a little breathing room from Elle Salinas’ five-point service run.

Then, Sarah Thomas and Mulholland combined for some huge kills to slice the ’Canes’ lead to 14-13 (in a 15-point game). Unfortunately for the hosts, the game’s final play was a kill by Villa Maria’s Spinler.

“Villa is just a solid defensive team,” said Mount coach George Trabosh. “We hit the ball as hard as we could. I was really happy with our effort today. We’re stronger mentally now than we were at the beginning of the year.”

Mount Saint Joe’s is now 6-3 in the AACA and will be the host team in one of the conference semifinal matches next Monday. Villa Maria improved to 8-1 and will host the other semifinal.

“Mount is an awfully good team,” said Villa Maria Academy coach Joe Boland. “Their pressure got to our kids at times. They have some good hitters. Number 9 (Mulholland) is tough to handle. And, they passed a lot better than they did last time.

“We had some unforced errors but the title was on the line and I think our kids were a little nervous. Mount made errors too. Most of our errors were from trying too hard. I thought our passing was really good the whole match. Except for a couple hiccups here and there, we passed extremely well. That’s what I was happiest about.”